i. 445 
.h3R44 




^9 






^': 




Book— — — 



9^0 ^"^^ 



IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION 



IN MARYLAND. 



PROCEEDII^Tas 



OF THE 



Union ^Uit 




AT A MEETING HELD IN 



TEMPEHAJ^CE TEMPLE, 



B ^ltim:oi2.e. 



WEDNESDAY, December 16, 1863. 



BALTLMORE: 
PRINTED BY BULL k TUTTLE, CLIPPER OFFICE. 

1863. 






b 6 '1 ". ' 



PROCEEDINGS 



OP THE 



UNION STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, 

Wednesday, December 16, 1863. 



The State Central Committee of the Union Party of Mary- 
land met at Temperance Temple on Wednesday, the IGtIi 
instant, at noon, Hon. Thomas Swann in the chair. 

After calling the roll Mr. Swann addressed the Committee 
as follows : 

ADDRESS OF MR. SWANN. 

Gentlemen of the Union State Central Committee : 

I have called you together, by request of a large number ot 
Union men, in advance of the meeting of the Legislature, to 
suggest the propriety of some action on the part of tliis Com- 
mittee in reference to the engrossing subject of Emancipation, 
which now engages tlie attention of the people of this State, 
It may be proper for me to state, as an additional reason for 
this movement, that I have received a communication, from 
prominent and influential slaveholders of Maryland, urging 



within her limits, wliy .should the slaveholder, as a practical 
question of economy as well as of policy, embarrass himself any 
longer with negro slavery !■* Will delay bring back the losses 
which have been brought upon him by this rebellion ? 

There is no one in the State of Maryland Avho has more uni- 
formly advocated the observance of every constitutional guaran- 
tee in refence to slave property, and that the amplest justice 
should be done to all in dealing with it, than the Chairman of 
this Committee. But I have foreseen that the tenure by which 
it was held was becoming ever}' day more and more precarious. 
I cordially endorsed tlie policy of the President in his recom- 
mendation of gradual Emancipation with compensation, because 
I believed the contest was iasfc drifting beyond law and consti- 
tutional guarantees. The State of Maryland, before this war 
broke out, represented more than thirty millions, in her 
slave population ; and as it had grown up under the protection 
of the Federal as well as the State (Jonstitutions, it seemed to 
me that some consideration should be extended to this large in- 
terest. But it is not the less true that all the great interests of 
the country, both public and private, have been alike seriously 
compromised l)y the effects of this rebellion. Every one has 
suffered more or less. What is my own experience ? In an 
adjoining State, where I represented a large interest, my lands 
have been laid waste — valuable cro])8 have disappeared before 
the torch of the incendiary — personal property has been appro- 
priated, without compensation. Tlie march of contending 
armies knows no restraint. The law becomes powerless when 
revolutions begin. You may charge upon whom you will the 
cause of all this anarchy and ruin, but the ravages of a wasting 
war have done it all ; for if there had been no rebellion your 
domestic relations would not have been interfered with. I 
charge the responsibility upon the men who liave precipitated 
this rebellion. They are the men upon whom the censure must 
fall. But what can we do now ? That is the practical ques- 
tion. We are in the midst of a revolution. We could not 
bring back Slavery in Maryland if we desired it. Public opin- 
ion has settled the doom of Slavery, because public opinion has 
associated with it the blood of the gallant men who have fallen 
in this unnatural strife. It had no countenance at any time but 
that which the Union gave it. In attempting to break up, the 
Union to throw around it additional safeguards and to widen 
the area of its power, the States in rebellion have destroyed it 
altogether ; and hard as it is upon the loyal men of the Border 
States, we are left no alternative but to accept the state of 
things as we find them. When President Lincoln, more than 
a year ago, recommended gradual Emancipation, I believed that 
some plan might have been adopted in Maryland which would 



have added a few short years to the lite ot" iSlaver}'. 1 am not 
so sure now, as things liave pro?:!;rc.ssed, that 1 was not mistaken 
in this. Where is tiie able-bodied man or woman in the State 
of Maryland, who cannot throw off the yoke of Slavery, without 
hindrance, in twenty -four hours "r* The relation of master and 
filave is totally changed. The slave has become the master — 
that is to say, lie dictates his own terms of labor, or he goes 
where he can enjoy his uurestrained freedom without interfer- 
ence. Such a system of labor is not only exjiensive, but it is 
utterly worthless and unprotital)le. Gradual Emancipation, in 
the present condition of the country and ot' our own State, 
means nothing more, iii lu}' judgment, than the support by the 
master of the Avomen and children and those who are unable to 
work. That is all : for it is evident that in Maryland the negro 
holds his freedom in his own hands, in the absence of compul- 
sory laws . and to suppose that, he is so blind and indifferent as 
not to make use of it, is hardly to be believed. What does it 
profit us, then, to talk about gradual Emancipation, when the 
master has lost all control — when the laws are silent, and a 
restless public oidnion is urging the prompt abolition of Slavery 
everywhere? There is no disguising the fact that the prejudice 
against slavery has increased ienlbld since the breaking out of 
this war. It has no kind word from any quarter. You could 
not enforce the Fugitive Slave Lav.' to-morrow in any State of 
the Union without bloodsVied. Tliese indications are not with- 
out their significance. I am reasoning this question for the 
consideration of my friends in the State. I desire the })eople to 
understand hov,- I have been brouglit to the conclusion that 
Slavery is dead in Maryland: and if 1 have modified my views 
in regard to the interest which the State or the slaveholder may 
have, in any system of gradual Emancipation, I Avaut it to he 
understood by what reasons I have been influenced. 

But in view of the transition through Avhich we are ])assing, 
there are considerations of State policy, as well as of individual 
concern, which we are not at liberty to lose sight of. Siipj)ose 
we go on struggling to maintain our hold upon tlie crumbling 
fragments of this sinking institution, what will it avail us? 
How will the public interests of the State fare in such a conflict ? 
It involves the ability of the citizen to make good the demands 
of taxation, and as a consequence the maintenance of the public 
credit. The State must prepare lor the change through which 
she is certain to pass — the sooner the better. You want labor 
and you want capital. You will get neither while this struggle 
continues. The State in the meantime suffers in her agriculture, 
in her manufactures, in the development of her various resources 
— in her general finances, both ])ublic and private — every day 
that she permits this incubus, as it now stands, to be recognized 



8 

as a State institution. You can do nothing as a Slave State to 
better your present condition ; you may do all that you desire, 
not only to recover from the past, but to give impetus to your 
prospects in the future, if you get rid of negro slavery at once, 
and hold out inducements to free white labor to come to your 
aid. I believe that in ten years the State of Maryland, under 
a system of free labor, would double both her population, the 
value of her lands, and her capacity for production. 

If it be admitted, then — and who will deny it — that Slavery 
has reached a point where it can no longer be made useful or 
jirofitable — that it has no real or marketable value, in the midst 
(jf the embarrassments that surround it — is it not better that it 
should cease to be recognized as speedily as practicable ? Two 
modes have been suggested for its final removal, both of which 
1 propose to refer to briefly : 

1. Gradual Emancipation, extending over, say, three, five, 
seven, or ten years. 

2. Immediate Emancipation, with the chance of compensation 
by Congress, under the proposition of the President of the 
United States. 

I know there are many who cling to the hope that something 
may still be done to moderate the burthen which the extinction 
of Slavery is expected to entail upon a large class in Maryland 
in the total loss of their capital. But who will not see the 
utter hopelessness of any such reliance? The object of time, in 
inaugurating a system of free labor, is ostensibly to give to the 
master the benefit of the labor of his slave until he can adapt 
himself to the proposed change. But will it do this ? Would 
an ordinance of gradual Emancipation give any more security 
to the slaveholder than he enjoys at the present moment ? A 
slave who is to be free five or ten years hence would have no 
more hesitation in availing himself of his present flicilities of 
escape than if he were a slave for life. Nor would such an or- 
dinance allay for an instant the agitation which is now going 
on, and which has brought us to this crisis. It is reasonable to 
assume, from our experience so far, that a very short time will 
witness the withdrawal of all that portion of the colored race 
in Maryland whose labor is worth retaining. Family ties, 
domestic attachments, kindly sympathies, humane treatment, 
have not retarded heretofore, nor will they retard hereafter, the 
all controlling desire for freedom. But with the certainty of 
this result, the advocates of gradual Emancipation will find 
themselves saddled with the support of all the slave property 
which has ceased to be available oi profitable. So tar from 
being a benefit it would result in positive loss and inconvenience. 
I can see it in no other light. There is no system of gradual 
Emancipation that could be made practically useful in relieving 



the slaveholder, as things now stand in Maryland ; and it is not 
probable that he will get any additional safeguard for his pro- 
tection, either from Congress or the Legislature of his State. 
It will also be borne in mind that while this experiment of 
gradual Emancipation is going on all your great interests are 
at a standstill. Your labor is deficient — your lands are stag- 
nant and unproductive — you are gaining nothing, in fact, but 
the doubtful value of the slave-labor that may be induced to 
forego the temptation of freedom and remain with you, against 
the almost certain and incalculable results that would be likely 
to i'ollow a Proclamation of immediate and unconditional Eman- 
cipation. These are stubborn facts, and it may be, not the most 
agreeable view that might be presented of this subject. To say 
that I sympathize deeply with those who will suffer so largely 
from the immediate eflects of this change, 1 do no more than 
justice to myself. I am not among the number of those who 
can lift the voice of exultation and triumph in a time like this. 
There is no man in the State who has desired more ardently 
than I have done the wiping out of Slavery ; not, however, by 
violence and indirection, and a total abnegation of all respect 
for the claims and feelings of those who are innocently connected 
with it. I would have extinguished it at any time heretofore, 
but for my reverence for law and constitutional guarantees, 
and the rights of property. That the slaveholder should hesi- 
tate and hold back, in so trying a crisis, is not to be wondered 
at, viewing his slave property as he does. The non-slaveholder 
might do the same if he were similarly situated. I indulge in 
no crimination of the slaveholder because he does not view this 
subject in the light that I do, and is not prepared to move as 
fast as those who are more fortunately situated and have no slave 
property to stand in the way and embarrass their action. 

Now let us consider how immediate Emancipation would 
affect us. In the first place we are told that the State is being 
denuded of its labor. That is true. In some districts agricul- 
tural pursuits have been almost entirely suspended. How is 
this drain to be checked ? If negro labor is indispensable until 
free labor can be substituted — and no doubt much embarrass- 
ment has already resulted from the state of things which now 
exists — the only remedy, it seems to me, is immediate Emanci- 
pation, with ivages to the %oorkinrjman. Gradual Emancipation, 
if limited to the shortest period, would not prevent the exodus 
which is now going on, because the negro has been taught to 
regard all arrangements affecting his personal liberty as wholly 
inoperative and void without his consent. You cannot bind 
him to you for one year, much less for a period of three or Jive 
years. He is his own master now, and he knows it. An ap- 
peal to a free white laborer to give you his labor for a term of 



10 

years without cost, would be quite as effectual as an ordinance 
of gradual Emancipation binding the slave to a similar ar- 
rangement. You must approach the negro in the line of his 
interest, or your eiibrts to retain him will be utterly unavailing. 
A Proclamation of Emancipation, to take effect immediately, 
with the adoption of some reasonable system of wages or recog- 
nized apprenticeship, would at once fix the labor of the colored 
race as long as you desired to retain it. Nothing else will. In 
Louisiana the introduction of a tariff of wages has been tried 
with success, and estates have been worked in this way with 
profit to the master, where the exodus has been universal in 
the absence of such compensation. There have been instances, 
I believe, in our own 8tate where sinular inducements have 
been held out with success. Immediate Emancipation, tlicre- 
fore, while it brings to your aid both labor and capital within 
a reasonable period, is the only alternative which can be relied 
upon with any prospect of success to supjjly the pressing want 
which is upon you now, and until your present labor is super- 
seded by labor of another class. There is another view to 
which I would refer in this connection. Immediate Emancipa- 
tion throws the burthen of the old and infirm, and those who 
are usually termed supernumeraries, at once upon the State or 
the General Government; that is certain. The 'shiveholder is 
relieved from this heavy weiglit. It is not for me to estimate 
the value of this relief. I believe it to be an important element 
in the view Avhich I am presenting. To the extent of this 
saving his ability would be increased to jirovide compensation 
under the new system. The debit and credit side of the ac- 
count in the maintenance of a family of negroes is seldom 
brought into accurate comparison in such manner as to show 
the actual net profits of slave labor. If you will calculate it, 
as I have done, charging the great disparity in point of effect- 
iveness in this species of labor, compared Avitii free white Jabor 
— the maintenance, in food, clothing, doctors' bills, and other 
legitimate items of expense — you will find that the capital 
represented by tlie ownership of the slave is, at best, nominal. 
1 assert another proposition. I claim that with tlic admission 
that slave property is no longer marketable, and carrie-* with it 
no fixed value, (as will be seen by the ofiicial inventory of the 
slaves left by the late Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, estimated 
at five dollars eacli,) the slaveholder will fare better under a 
Proclamation of immediaie than (/radual Emancipation, and 
that he would be a gainer in the end by the employment nf 
free labor, and the dismissal of this large chiss of useless super- 
numeraries, who are now a positive tax U[)ou his capital. 

Then we are to take into account as the probable effect of the 
system I am advocating the instant relief i'rom the condition of 



11 

uncertaiaty and ruin which now paralyzes all our plans for the 
future. You will not begin to date your starting point of re- 
action while this uncoi'tainty continues. Gradual Emancipa- 
tion will not aid you. The State will begin to recover when 
Slavery is finally disposed of, and not before. The time devo- 
ted to any gradual system Avill represent just in the same pro- 
portion the continuance of the evils under which you are now 
suifering. It Avould be difficult to estimate in figures to what 
extent the loss of your slave property would bo returned to 
you, in the enhanced value of your landed property — the ex- 
pansion of your trade — the rapid development of your agricul- 
tural, manufacturing, and mineral resources, and the general 
activity which would be imparted to all the great interests of 
your State. These public interests are not to be lost sight of 
in estimating the l)enefits of prompt and immediate action. 
Who will deny that the agricultural and manufacturing in- 
ducements held out by the State of Maryland compare favora- 
bly with those of any other State? And yet it is equally certain 
that the interests of both have always been ruinously depressed. 
The lands of the Eastern Shore are intrinsically worth double 
their present market value — so of other sections of the State. 
The great mineral resources of some of our Western counties 
ought to quadruple the returns which they have heretofore 
made. These drawbacks are not referable to any absence of 
commercial and other necessary facilities. I devoted the best 
years of my life in building up a line of inter-communication 
between the waters of the Chesapeake and the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi Valleys. We have stretched our arms to every conve- 
nient point of profitable commercial interchange. Our system 
of internal improvements is more complete than that of any 
other State. In salubrity of climate Maryland is certainly 
without a rival. Why, then, with all these advantages in our 
favor, have we not gone on and prospered, as the Free States 
have prospered, in wealth and population? The explanation 
is not difficult. The cause is to be found in the habits of our 
people. The tide of immigration has heretofore found its way 
to the gr^at West and Northwest. Slavery has been the stum- 
bling block here. The foreign immigrant will not settle him- 
sslf where Slavery exists. He will not trust his capital in a 
Slave State. Wliile others are pressing forward — while every 
department of industry in the Free States is pregnant with life 
and animation and progress — he sees that we are lagging behind. 
We are content to sit with our hands before us and suifer the 
negro to work for us and to ridn us. That, is the whole story. 
It is a sad story but it is not the less true. How many young 
men, brought up under our present system, educated to lean for 
support upon slave labor, have found themselves at years of 



12 

maturity, bound hand and foot to a few scanty acres of poor 
land, it may be, with the superadded incumbrance of a patri- 
mony of worthless negroes thrown upon them for support during 
the period of their natural lives ? The future has no prospects 
for them. The master is the slave, vi fact. It is no painted 
picture that I draw. Virginia, as she stood before the war, 
with her decayed agriculture, her silent and deserted water- 
courses, her neglected commerce, her dissolving and idle ])opu- 
lation, sufficiently attests its truth , and my own State of Mary- 
land, too long indifferent to the warnings of experience, is only 
now begining to wake up to its startling reality. In deciding 
between immediate and gradual Emancipation we must deter- 
mine whether it is our purpose to put an end at once to these 
untoward and withering influences, or whether they shall be 
permitted to continue undisturbed for a few years longer, without 
resulting benefit, that I can see, to the well-being of the State. 
Slavery has long ceased to exist, anywhere within our borders, 
in any relation which can make it useful or profitable to the 
people. On the contrary, it has become a stumbling block 
which, the longer it is suffered to remain, the greater will be the 
injury it is certain to entail both upon the State and all who are 
connected with it. The change has been decreed and must 
come sooner or later. Our action is limited to a mere question 
of time. Our lands must be subdivided and prepared for the 
new system of labor — the more speedily the better. Immigra- 
tion and capital must be brought'to our aid. We can accomplish 
nothing by delay, when we know that all our efforts to advance 
must be fruitless so long as Maryland continues in the category 
of Slave States. 

It would he difficult to speculate as to how far the subject of 
compensation to the slaveholder may form an element in this 
calculation. If it comes at all, which I sincerely hope it will, 
and that speedily, it will never be by way of condition to induce 
us to do that which we can no longer avoid. We are equally 
powerless, with or without compensation. In estimating, how- 
ever, the inducements for prompt and decisive action on the 
part of our people in inaugurating the new system of labor, I 
indulge the hope, based upon sympathies which are believed to 
exist in high official quarters, that the liberality of Congress 
may be induced to show itself in a becoming effort to share 
with the slaveholders of our State the pecuniary burthen which 
the withdrawal of their labor may entail upon them in the be- 
ginning — especially as the recommendation of the President of 
the United States in regard to compensation is still pending ; 
and the action of the Convention may be carried into effect 
within the limit of time fixed by the proposed legislation of 
Congress at its last session. Such an appeal would certainly 



13 

not be without its advocates anion u' the Representatives of the 
Free States. It will have my most cordial co-operation and ef- 
forts to secure its success. "Whatever may be ray views of the 
ultimate good effects of a change in our system of labor, it can- 
not be denied that^there would be loss and inconvenience to the 
slaveholder in the beginning ; and this, apart from the views 
which have been presented of the practical value of the institu- 
tion, ought to entitle him to the consideration of Congress, 
besides which the depreciation in the value of slave property 
has not been brought about by any agency of the loyal States. 
With these views, frankly expressed and actuated by a sin- 
cere desire to promote harmony, as well as to facilitate what 1 
believe to be the true interests of the State, I have called a 
meeting of this Committee, in the hope that it may lead to 
such interchange of opinion as may establish some principle for 
your guidance in the future. However you may dispose of this 
subject, in the vote which you will be called upon to give, I 
shall feel that, as your Chairman, I have done my duty. The 
subject is not new to me. For more than twenty years I was 
myself a slaveholder — involuntary, it is true, but a slaveholder 
— with all the responsibilities which the institution entails 
upon those who are connected with it. For fifteen years before 
these relations terminated I proclaimed freedom to all under 
my charge who would avail themselves of the offer, retaining 
at the same time those who claimed my protection. I thank 
God that I am rid of the whole responsibility now. I am not 
a believer in a negro slavery. I have always viewed it as a 
dead weight upon our people. In its pecuniary results I am 
yet to be satisfied of any practical benefit that can be claimed 
for it, situated as we are here in Maryland. Of its value and 
relations elsewhere I do not pretend to speak. When I look 
upon the future of this vast country, I confess myself unable to 
grapple with subjects which must soon tax the wisdom, pru- 
dence and foresight of our ablest statesmen. More than four 
millions of this degraded race, or as the President terms it in 
his Message, ■'landless and homeless" race, unfitted for the 
duties of self-control, are now crowded together within the 
narrow limits of the Gulf States — to be still more'icircumscribed 
as this war goes on — to await the result of a conflict which is to 
decide the destiny of this great Republic. Nor is that result 
doubtful. What is to be their fate? Where is the statesman 
who will paint the bow of promise upon that dark horizon ? I 
am not here to attempt to solve that problem. Let us the ra- 
ther pray for guidance and direction; but above all, in setting 
our own house in order, let us renew our pledges to each other 
— be the result of these complications what they may — that this 
great experiment of free Government must be sustained; and 
we must stand or fall as one people and one nationality. 



14 

Mr. Swann having concluded his remarks, submitted the fol- 
lowing resolutions for the action of the Committee : 

Whereas, The State of Maryland, by a decided vote of her 
people in the election which has recently taken place, has de- 
clared herself in favor of calling a Convention with especial re- 
ference to the abolishment of Slavery within her borders, upon 
some plan, either immediate or gradual, which shall best con- 
duce to the public welfare and avert the ruinous condition of 
affairs growing out of this rebellion, which has resulted from 
the almost total loss of the effective labor on which she has 
lieretofore depended — paralyzing her most profitable pursuits, 
and greatly embarrasing the enterprise and industry of her 
citizens — with no prospect of relief so long as this state of things 
is permitted to continue ; and, 

Whereas, Slavery has ceased to exist in the State of Mary- 
land, in any practical relation which can commend it to the 
favor either of the State or those immediately connected with it ; 
and it is well established that slave property has not only no real 
or marketable value now, but must become a positive drawback, 
in the midst of events that are daily occurring ; and that serious 
inconvenience, if not suffering, has already resulted from the 
large number of supernumeraries lelt, with the slaveholder for 
support, which from necessity will be compelled to look for re- 
lief elsewhere ; therefore. 

Resolved, That this Committee will favor the call of a Con- 
vention, through the agency of the legislature about to assemble, 
at the earliest practicable day compatible with the Constitution 
and laws of the State, and the adoption by said Convention of 
some plan oi immediate Emancipation, as best calculated to sub- 
serve both the interests of the State and the holders of slave 
property in the present ruinous condition of affairs. 

Resolved, That this Committe, in favoring immediate and 
])rompt action, not only in the early call of a Convention, but 
the adoption of a line of policy which shall relieve the State 
from the damaging influences under which she is now suffering 
— from the state of suspense and confusion which exists within 
her borders — entertain the belief that the only remedy is the 
immediate Emancipation of the negro race, with such a system 
of wages, or apprenticeship, as shall be deemed advisable, to 
guard against too sudden a revulsion in the inauguration and 
establishment of the new system of labor. 

Resolved, That the recommendation of the President of the 
United States, in offering the aid of the Government to such of 
the loyal Border slaveholding States as shall adopt an Ordin- 
ance of Emancipation, was eminently jus.t and equitable, and 
should be brought to the attention of Congress by the people of 



15 

the State, through their representatives in that body — not as a 
condition of any phan of Emancipation which it may be their 
pleasure to adopt — but as a measure of justice to those who 
have been connected Avith the institution of SKavcry, under the 
assurances of protection heretofore liehl out to them by the 
guarantees of the Constitution. 

REMAEKS OF HON. J. W KENNEDY. 

Mr. Kennedy rose to express his uncjualified approbation of 
(he very able and conclusive argument of the Chairman in iiivor 
of the views he had just given of the policy proper to be adopted 
by the State at the present juncture. The Chairman, he said, 
is entitled to the thanks of the Committee for this careful expo- 
sition. He hoped it would be read and maturely considered bv 
every citizen of the State, as he Avas sure it would carry a most 
valuable conviction to the mind of every reader. He was pre- 
pared also to give his hearty concurrence to the resolutions 
offered by the Chairman, as in every respect most appropriate 
to the occasion. He had himself prepared some resolutions 
which he designed to offer to the consideration of the Commit- 
tee, which he thought might meet their approbation. They 
are, he said, in no respect in conflict with those proposed by 
the Chairman, but they j)resent the subject now agitating the 
public mind in a somewhat dilferent ]ioiutof view from those of 
the Cliairman, which necessarily were restricted to the subject 
embraced in his address. What he (Mr. K.) was now about to 
offer, were perhaps of a more comprehensive character, and 
were addressed to a vicAv of the questions before the country 
from a position of broader aspect than the resolutions just read 
l)y the Chairman. He hoped tliat the Committee Avould be able 
to adopt both as their exposition of the sentiments which the 
ju-esent crisis had brought into })ublic discussion ; and that the 
Committee would give their sanction to each set of resolutions 
separately, sending them forth to the Union i">arty of the State 
simply as the opinions of the Committee respectfully com- 
mended to the consideration of their friends, by whom he 
meant that large body of citizens throughout the State Avho 
were determined to support the Union through every emergen- 
cy, and to persevere with unabated zeal in resistance to this 
rebellion until it was utterly crushed out. 

Mr. Kennedy then read his resolutions as follows : — 

This rebellion, and the disastrous civil war in whicli it has 
involved our country, having been instituted professedly for 
the purpose of protecting and perpetuating Slavery, and of ex- 
tending it over the free communities of the National territory, 
has so utterly failed ia its object, that now, after nearly three 



16 



years of desolating warfare, characterized by such suffering and 
sacrifice as have scarcely a parallel in the annals of civflized 
nations It has not only destroyed the guarantees which ?he 
Constitution ot the Union and the tolerance of public op n on 
had heretofore given to Slavery, but has, in fact, virtually 
abolished the institution by forcing it into condition that ?en^ 
dent valueless to the slave-owner and an incumbiauce to the 
society in which it exists. 

The exigency thus produced by tlie folly of the leaders of the 
rebellion has presented to the people of Maryland, and esneci 
ally to that portion of them who are yet nominali; the oZel 
of slaves, a crisis m which it has become their duty no less 
than their most urgent necessity, to confront this momentous 
change m the_ grea domestic interests of the State, and to 
adopt a policy in conformity with its requirements. Therefore 
liesolved, as the opinion of the Central Coimnittee, That the 
time has arrived when it has become the inevitable duty of the 
(xeneral Assembly to make immediate provision for the substi! 
tution o free for slave labor, and to adopt measures which sha I 
enable the people to effect an early, la.^bl and compl te ex in- 
guishment of slavery in Maryland ^ «aliu 

Resolved That from the date of the Eevolution down to a re 
cent period the general sentiment of Maryland, as illustrated in 
the opinions of her wisest and most approved statesmen, and as 
expressed in the familiar convictions of her people, re-^-arded 
Slavery not only as a great moral blemish in the compositio 
of our social condition but as a most pernicious element in re- 
tarding the growth and prosperity of the State, and that there- 
fore the highest considerations of policy and good f?overnment 
required its removal by a judicious course of legislation That 
this almost universal opinion of the fathers of our polity has 
only yielded to the malign influence exercised upon a later o-en 
cration by the profitable expansion of Slavery attendant m)on 
the great and rapid enlargement of the culture of cotton in the 
Southern States, and the consequent increased value of slave 
l)roperty as an article of Southern demand. That but for this 
stimulus operating upon the cupidity of the less scrupulous and 
larger number ot proprietors of slaves throughout the Border 
States Slavery would long since have been expelled from Ma- 
ryland, in obedience to the better judgment of .our earlier day 
ihat since this change in the estimate of its material value' 
olavery has been sustained, encouraged, and guarded by sue' 
cessive legislative acts of such rigorous infliction as stron-ly to 
awakenthe attention of the people to the increasing evils Sftho 
institution ; ot Avhich not the least is discovered in its power to 
promote a system of class legislation, which has, in a greater 
or less degree, disturbed the harmonious relations of the differ 



17 

ent interests of the >State by an une([ual and unjust distribution 
of political power, by odious discriminations between the privi- 
leges and immunities conferred upon the owners of slave pro- 
perty and those accorded to the rest of tlio community, and by 
its tendency to give an undue predominance to the slaveholding 
interest in the management of the public affairs. 

Resolved, That as these influences have been gradually gain- 
ing strength in the State, they have in the same degree engen- 
dered a fancy that Maryland is connected by peculiar affinities 
with the distinctive interests and policy of the planting iStates 
of the South; whilst, in fact, Maryland, with the single excep- 
tion of her toleration of a cumbersome, expensive and inefficient 
system of slave-labor, which she has ever had the svon^est 
motives to abandon, is, in no view of her condition as a pros- 
perous and thriving community, to be regarded in theilight of 
a Southern State. Neither her c@mmerce, nor her manufac- 
tures, nor her great mineral resources arc any farther depend- 
ent upon Southern support than those of any other State in the 
Union; whilst her great agricultural interest has scarcely a 
single incident to connect it with the South. The landholder 
of Maryland does not produce one staple commodity which 
finds a market in the Soutli worthy of any comparison with its 
importance in Northern, Western or foreign commerce. The 
great system of public works in the State, upon which she lias 
expended more than fifty millions of money, all tend Westward 
or Northward, and the completion of these works has more 
than quadrupled her commercial capital. It is her great privi- 
lege to boast of her central position, from which she may 
proudly claim an exemption from all sectional prejudice, and 
assert her right to be respected and valued as the very heart of 
the Union, in sympathy with every sentiment and interest of 
the nation which truly and honestly supports the indissoluble 
integrity of the whole circle of the United States. That, so far 
from having any participation in or sympathy with the pecu- 
liar policy of the planting States, she has had constant reason 
to complain that in those States alone has she found the only 
persevering and unyielding antagonist to those measures of the 
National Government in which her own prosperity is most 
deeply involved. 

Resolved, That under the pressure of the exigencies of this 
unprovoked civil war — which, like every war conducted within 
the territory occupied by a slave population, necessarily and 
inevitably disorganizes and destroys the relation between the 
owner and the slave, by affording the latter the opportunity of 
escape from thraldom, — and in any event stirring up in his 
bosom that uncontrollable love of freedom which utterly dispels 
his enforced habit of subordination — the people of Maryland 



6 ^. * 

18 

fiiul themselves suddenly called upon to provide for this new 
enier!j;ency, wliicli can only be met l)y accepting the iact of the 
demolition of Shivery as a ])rcsent and irresistible reality. The 
events of the day are thus leading them back to the traditional 
wisdom of their fathers on the necessity of organizing a more 
vigorous and useful system of labor as a substitute for that 
which is no longer Avithin their choice, even if they desired to 
retain it. They are conscious that if they do not adjust this 
((uestion upon the basis of speedy Emancipation, it will soon 
adjust itself without their assistance ; and that, therefore, it is 
))i-udent to subject the course of Emancipation and its incidents 
to the guidance and control of law, rather than allow it to dis- 
uhh lfie« order and economy of society by shaping its own 
career. That the recognition of this necessity gives additional 
strengtli to that prevailing conviction so strongly manifested in 
the late election which seems to bave decreed the promptest 
action of the State to rid the people of the incumbrance of 
Slavery henceforth and forever. 

Itesolved, That this Committee, in consideration of all these 
reasons, look with satisfaction to the prospect of an early call 
of a Convention of the people by the Legislature, ^for the pur- 
l)ose of authorizing, preparing and digesting a plan for the im- 
mediate Emancipation of the slaves held in this State, the future 
])rohibition of Slavery, and for the organization of the labor of 
the population which shall be made free by that measure. That 
they regard it as a matter of the highest moment to every citi- 
zen of the State that, in the prosecution of its labors to this end, 
the Legislature should be sustained by the liberal and cordial 
support of the people, and every assistance afforded it by counsel 
and co-operation to enable it to perform the work assigned to it 
in such a manner as shall promote harmony amongst conflicting 
interests, and secure the people from all future excitement and 
agitation of a topic which has proved itself to bo the only one 
capable of seriously disturbing the peace of the most beneficent 
(government known to human history. 

After the reading of these resolutions, Mr. Price rose to ex- 
])ress his entire and full concurrence in the sentiments which 
had been expressed by the Chairman, and by his colleague from 
l>altimore — Mr. Kennedy. He was prepared to vote in favor ol' 
both sets of resolutions at once. The two sets were entirely 
consistent with each other, the one — the C'hairman's — taking a 
view which might be said to be confined to the topics of his 
excellent speech, the other — Mr. Kennedy's — treating the ques- 
tions from what might be called an outside view, to which Mr. 
Price heartilv assented. 




Mr. Stockutt, of Anne Arundel eounty, said tliat the views 
])resented in the address of the Chairman were, in tlie main, 
those which liad taken possession of liis own mind. Ho did not 
see how tliey conld be controverted, although he did hope that 
something might he done to ligliten the burthen which must 
necessarily fall upon those wlio hold property in slaves, by the 
hisses which would be entailed upon them by the proposed change 
in the system of labor. He would like to see compensation to 
the widows and orplians who had tlioir capital invested in, slave 
])roperty. 

A lengtliy debate ensued, which was i)articipated i 
lierry of Baltimore county, Mr. Eichelberger ot 
county, Mr. Roberts of Montgomery county, Mr. Sei 
of Baltimore city, Mr, Stockett of Anne Arundel o 
Clark of Prince George's county, Hon. John P. 
Hon. Wm. Price, and Mr. Swann. 

During the discussion which took place upon the resolutions. 
Mr. liwann stated to the meeting that he had received, through 
the Secretary, a letter from ex:-Governor Hicks, which was read 
as follows : 

National Hotel, '( 

Washington, Dec. 14., 1863. S 

Wm. Thomson, Esq., Secretary Union State Central Committee: 

Dear, Sir — Your notice to attend a meeting of the State 
Central Committee of the Union Party of Maryland, at Tem- 
])erance Temple, on "Wednesday, the IGtli instant, is before me. 
I regret exceedingly that the state of my health, together with 
pressing public duties, will not allow me the pleasure of being 
l)resent; but I beg to assure the Committee, that in reference 
to the subject of emancipation, on which they propose to take 
action, prior to the meeting of the Legislature, I am heartily 
with them, and deem it wise and prudent that the Committee 
should be convened. 1 need hardly say, that although not an 
enthusiast upon this or any other subject, I have been long an 
emancipationist, and ray lieart is with the Committee in the 
work; and farther, that I will give ray sanction to what they 
raay deem advisable, upon a subject so important to the State 
of Maryland. 

\'ery respectfully, 

• Thos. H. Hicks. 

The vote was then taken separately on the resolutions offered 
by Mr. Swann, Chairman, and after that upon those olfered l)y 
Mr. Kennedy, when both were unanimously a(lo]>te(l. 



20 

Mr. Eichelberger, of Frederick county, then oiFered the fol- 
lowing resolution, which was unanimously adopted : 

Resolved^ That the address of the Chairman of this Commit- 
tee he published with tlie proceedings of this meeting, and that 
both the Address and the resolutions be recommended to the 
dispassionate consideration of the Union men of Maryland for 
their adoption. 

The Committee then adjourned, subject to the call of the 
Chairman. 






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